Teen’s Death at Camp Fuels Debate, Inquiry

A 14-year-old girl’s death at a South Dakota boot camp for juvenile offenders has set off an FBI probe and fueled a national debate over whether harsh, military-style camps are the right way to rehabilitate troubled teens.

The FBI said Wednesday that it had launched an investigation into the treatment of juvenile inmates assigned to the state-run South Dakota State Training School, which operates a boot camp for girls. Gina Score died at the boot camp in Plankinton on July 21 during a forced long-distance run just two days after entering the program as a convicted shoplifter.

Since her death, state investigators and parents of inmates at the boot camp have alleged that other girls were injured by being shackled, handcuffed and dragged on endurance runs until blood soaked their shoes.

Authorities said the girl died of heatstroke after she collapsed during a forced 2.7-mile run. The 226-pound girl lay in the sun for three hours without treatment because staff members at the boot camp believed she was faking, even though the girl had wet herself, was drooling and her eyes had rolled back in her head, state investigators said.

State prosecutors charged two of the boot camp’s female staff members last month with one count each of manslaughter and four counts each of child abuse. Both entered pleas of not guilty. In addition, the superintendent of the South Dakota State Training School resigned.

The FBI and the U.S. Justice Department are looking into possible violations of U.S. civil rights laws.

Across the United States, there are more than 50 juvenile boot camps housing about 4,500 youths as part of state correctional programs, according to the Center for Juvenile and Criminal Justice, a San Francisco-based think tank. The programs are aimed at reforming youthful offenders by means of rigorous physical training and strict discipline.

“When you create a system where you bully kids, there’s a risk of it turning into abuse,” said Larry Brendtro, president of Reclaiming Youth International, a group that questions the boot camp concept.

Critics argue that the harsh treatment meted out at boot camps can cause injuries to inmates and subjects children with budding criminal tendencies to physical and emotional abuse that can push them toward, rather than away from, violent acts.